Ginny's Favorite Things

Rusty and Maggie don't fetch. They don't see the point. Ginny, on the other hand, has learned the fun of getting people to throw things for her. She is obsessed with this $10 toy. In fact she is so obsessed that I can see the focus that Rusty has for herding is the way Ginny acts with this toy. Hopefully when the time comes Ginny will be able to think about sheep with the same concentration. Right now it's fun for her... ...and it's good for me to have a way to help her burn off energy with something as easy as standing in one place and throwing something. Ginny also loves to swim in the canal Across the Road. In a recent blog post I described how Ginny is always on leash now on our walks. Swimming in the canal is an exception. So far when I let her go into the water (which did not work well on leash) she hasn't tried to run off and chase birds. But I don't let her off for long--only while she wants to swim. I decided to combine the Toy and swimming.   I started by throwing it right close to the edge in case I was the one that had to retrieve it.  It became obvious that I would not be the one going in the water so I threw it a little farther.

 And farther. No problem. On one throw however it was much closer to the far bank and that's where Ginny got out... ...and then left the Toy.   I told her to go back for it.

She brought it back by walking along the bank until she got to one of the above-water crossings.

I think she would make a dock-diving dog or whatever they call that sport where dogs (many border collies) jump to retrieve favorite toys in water.  That would be fun if there was something close by. But we may have to stick with the canal.

Ginny Gets Smarter (or Maybe it's Me)

I used to take all three dogs for walks Across the Road. Rusty and Maggie get to run off leash once we're on the dirt roads and away from the main road. At first I let Ginny go too because she stayed with them and I knew that she would come with them if I called. Then Ginny discovered Birds. That was the end of the predictable behavior. Well, there was a new predictable behavior; hear the killdeer, run back and forth across the field after them. The killdeer fly in short bursts, land, change direction. Ginny would follow. I would follow her and it was only luck that I would eventually catch her. It only took me three episodes of this to realize that Ginny couldn't be off-leash anymore. I tried to take her on our walks using a long-line, but that didn't work for me. No matter which leash I used (long or short) I wasn't getting the behavior I wanted (walk nicely next to me) and she wasn't getting the exercise I thought she needed. This was all about two months ago. I complained to a friend about my lack of control of my puppy and the poor job I was doing of training her. Here is the light-bulb moment. She told me what I think I knew but wasn't admitting--that I needed to work with Ginny separately and not when the other dogs were around. Duh!

I started to take separate dog walks. Maggie and Rusty still get to go off-leash Across the Road......but Ginny walks on a leash.I found my sheepdog training flag that I had forgotten about. Carrying that has helped her get the idea of not pulling on the leash.She stills gets the chance to look for ground squirrels at times. For more exercise... ...we go on a bike ride.     These photos were all taken about a month ago but......this one was taken last week. Ginny wasn't too sure about those balers.